Sources close to National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir clarified on Saturday night that the Otzma Yehudit party's decision to boycott the Knesset and the committees as a sign of protest against the "lax response in Gaza" was a first step, and that the crisis with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may be on the verge of worsening further, the Maariv newspaper reported.
According to the report, there is a possibility that Ben Gvir will not show up for the government meeting and the meeting of the heads of the coalition which is scheduled for Sunday, as a sign of protest.
"He has no interest in dismantling the government, but he also has no interest in remaining in a government that is a right-wing government only on paper. Ben Gvir has a list of demands that consists of more than 10 items, all of them - election promises not of Otzma Yehudit, but of the Likud and the entire right. Let them fulfill two to three things out of everything that was promised to the public," said the sources.
They added, "It's a shame that Likud is making light of this, Netanyahu will be the first to understand the power of six votes of a faction that did not show up for Knesset votes. It not clear that not everything can be realized in about four months, but there is frustration with the performance of the government that promised a 'fully right-wing government' but in practice there is no judicial reform, there are no targeted eliminations [of terrorists], a response to shooting from Gaza or a military operation, and there is no harsh response to terrorism in Judea and Samaria."
The Otzma Yehudit Party announced last week it had decided not to take part in Knesset votes scheduled in protest of what it deemed the government's "weak response" to a spate of rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip.
On Friday, Otzma Yehudit blasted Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, after he ordered the return of the bodies of three terrorists to the Palestinian Authority.
Ben Gvir said in response, "This government is a right-wing government and the public did not give us a mandate to return the bodies of terrorists or to refrain from bombing Gaza. It is not too late to lead a powerful and offensive security policy. Otzma Yehudit will continue to be absent from votes until the Israeli government changes direction and begins to uphold the policy for which it was elected."
Meanwhile MK Almog Cohen of Otzma Yehudit told Kan 11 News in an interview on Saturday night that he is certain that him setting up a parliamentary office in Sderot prevented the firing of rockets from the Gaza Strip.
Cohen argued that, if he hadn’t been in Sderot, rockets would have been fired towards the city on Thursday night, following the elimination of the terrorists who murdered members of the Dee family.
Asked if he agreed that the security response was stronger during the Bennett-Lapid government, Cohen replied, "I agree that during the Bennett period we had more quiet in the Gaza Strip area and that is what I am angry about. I am sure that the Prime Minister knows how to resolve these matters."